



^y-f: 



■l<''^^ 



PRKSENTIil) BY 



THE MESSAGE OF LINCOLN 



A SUNDAY LECTURE 



BY THE RABBI OF THE 



Rodeph Shalom Congregation 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 

L ?.v^ J J, L 



SERIES 10 FEBRUARY 12, 1911 No. 14. 



These Sunday Lectures are distributed Free of Charge in che 
Temple to all who attend the Services. 

Another edition is distributed free in Pittsburgh to friends of 
liberal religious thought, on written application to the Rabbi. 

An extra edition is printed for those wishing to have these lec- 
tures mailed to friends residing out of the City. 



Apply to B. CALLOMON, 
The Temple, Fifth and Morewood Aves., Pittsburgh, Pa. 



SUNDAY LECTURES 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION RODEPH SHALOM 



1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 

11. 
12. 
13. 



2. 

3. 
4 

5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 



Through Love to Light. 

The Road to Happiness. 

The Midnight Sun. 

If I Were You. 

Heroes. 

The Holy Trinity. 

Try Again. 

A Jewish View of the Messiah. 

The Revolt of Reason. 

Peace, Peace, yet there is no 

Peace. 
The Choir Invisible. 
It Pays. 
Public Opinion. 



SERIES VIL 

14. The Founders of the Faiths 
I. — Moses. 

15. II. — Confucius, 
i 16. III.— Buddha. 

17. IV. — Zoroaster, 
i 18. v.— Jesus. 

19. VI.— Mahommed. 

20. VII.— The H. 'y Catholic 
Church. 

21. Unfortunate Success. 

22. Blessed are the Faithful. 

23. Cursed are the Slanderers. 

24. The President and His Policie> 

25. The Ascent of Man. 



SERIES VIIL 



Co-operative Creed for Jew 
and Christian. 

Let us Reason Together. 

Trust and Try. 

Through Telescope and Mi- 
croscope. 

Home, Sweet Home. 

Brother Against Brother. 

Milton's Message to Our Age. 

Keep Up Your Courage. 

Innocent or Guilty? 

Old Arrows from New 
Quivers. 



I. — Mr. Crewe's Career. 

11. II.— Electra. 

12. III.— The Broken Lance. 

13. IV.— The Saint. 

14. v.— The Tether. 

15. Abraham Liiicohrs Rcli^;i>>n 

16. Charles Darwin — A Tribute 

17. VI.— The Simple Life 

18. VII.— The Iron Heel. 

19 \'I1I. — Lay Down Your Arm» 

20. [X.— Father and Son. 

21. X.— A Book of Noble Women 
21. Let Well Enough Alone! 



SERIES IX. 



The Way of the Reformer. 
Rather Doubt than Hyprocrisy 
The Modern Maccabt-c. 
A Twentieth Century Ideal. 
A Little Child Shall Lead Them 
Sail On! (Sectarianism and 

the Public Schools.) 
The Land of the Heart's 

Desire. 
Except the Lord build the 

house. 



9. Prisoners of Self. 
10. An Ounce of Prevention. 
U. What We Owe to Woman. 

12. What Woman Owes to Us. 

13. Conventional Lies. 

14. Payiny the Price. 
Abraham IJppman — a Tribute. 

16. The New Religion. 

I — The Prophetic Reforniarioii 

17. II — The Paiiinie Rt-formation. 

18. Ill — The Christian Ret'urmation 



SERIES X. 



Politics and Morals .-. . 7. 

Why Convert the Jev.'. : . 8. 

The Right Kind of Religion ' 9. 

Rev. John H. Dietrich 10. 

Ought a Jew Speak in a Chris- 11. 

tian Pulpit. 12. 

Evolution or Revolution. 13. 

Chantecler — I. The Story. 14. 

Chantecler — II. An Interpre- 
tation. 



The Successful WilL-. 

To Do and to Dare. 

God in the Constitution. 

God's Word and Man's World. 

Money. 

Chasing Rainbows. 

Our Greatest Mcdern Need. 

The Me.ssage of Lincoln. 



THE MESSAGE OF LINCOLN 



Scripture Lesson: Isaiah liii. 



By His knowledge shall my righteous servant bring many 
unto righteousness. (Isaiah liii., 11.) 



The fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah has 
been traditionally interpreted by Biblical scholars as a 
forecast of the character of the Messiah. While many 
Jewish scholars have taught that Isaiah, in drawing the 
picture of the man of sorrows, may have had in min:l 
some great personality such as an inspiring prophet not 
3^et born, or the people of Israel in some remote age, the 
consenstts of opinion s^eems to be that Isaiah, in this 
fifty-third chapter, was painting the picture of a hero 
already dead, rather than of some great man yet to be 
born. 

Isaiah's Prophecy. 

Christian theologians, almost without exception, un- 
til within our times, have regarded this chapter as an 
indubitable forecast, a prediction, a prophecy, of the per- 
son of the Messiah. "Mashia'h" is, as you know, a He- 



*Delivered before the Rodeph Shalom Congregation, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., Sunday, February 12. 1911, by J. Leonard Levy, 
Rabbi. Stenographically reported by Caroline Loew^enthal. 



Drew word, which, transliterated in Engdish, gives tis 
the word Messiah; translated into Greek it becomes 
Christos, and Christos adopted into English becomes 
Christ ; so that Mashia'h, the Hebrew term, gives us the 
words Messiah and Christ. The terms Messiah and 
Christ are not names. Each is a title. Just as we speak 
of Napoleon, "the Great," Charles "Martel," Alexander, 
"the Great," so the Hebrews spoke of their Messiah, or 
Christ, giving to the person bearing the name, a title, 
"the" Messiah, or "the" Christ. 

\\'hen we consider the original word from which 
Messiah and Christ have been taken, we find that the 
Hebrew "Mashia'h" means "anointed," — a term applied 
to the Jewish King, the High Priest and likew^ise even 
to a heathen. In the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, Cyrus is 
called God's Christ, or anointed one. It pleased the 
theologians of the early church to take the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah, wdiich is the picture of some saintly 
martyr who suffered greatly at the hands of the people, 
and conceive that Isaiah, who died at the end of the sixth 
century, B. C. E., did not have before his mind's eye 
some person wdio suffered as he indicated in this chapter; 
nor some sufifering servant of humanity already dead, as 
descril)ed in this chapter; nor a general picture of men 
A\ ho, in all lands and in all ages, have risen as servants 
of God and man, and who have died because of their 
service; but one special servant, one chosen person. 

Theology's View. 

This person, the church said and has continued to 
say for the last eighteen hundred years and more, was 



fw, Ga.Xto-wv 



CV^Vv- 



Jesus of Nazareth. In a word, the church has taught 
that the hfty-tliird chapter of Isaiah is not only a fore- 
cast of the coming- of a Christ, but is a prophecy, a proni- 
ise and a prediction of the advent of one it calls the only 
true Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who was to die in the 
manner indicated, who was to become the atonement for 
ilie world, upon whom was to be placed the burdens of 
humanity's sins and who, as an offering pleasing to God, 
was to expiate the transgressions of humanity. The 
cliurch indicated that Jesus was despised and rejected of 
men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief; that he 
was not received by those to whom he came; that he 
voluntarily made for himself a sad death ; that by his 
death he has brought peace to the millions ; that he has 
been the atonement offering of mankind ; and that his 
blood has washed away the guilt of humanity. 

Changing View. 

Modern critics, among whom are men like Professor 
Kirkpatrick of Cambridge University, and Professor 
Cheyne of Oxford, and scores of others, who are still in 
the orthodox Protestant Church, are slowly beginning to 
teach that which Jews have taught for centuries, — that 
the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is a picture of God's suf- 
fering servant, — a picture in many respects, as true of 
men like Socrates, Savonarola, Galileo, of all the martyrs 
throughout the world, as it is supposed to be true of one 
single martyr who is said tO' have died to save humanity. 
There are other men in history who have be:en despised 
and rejected l^esides Jesus of Nazareth. There are others 



who have been acquainted with grief, and men of sor- 
rows, besides him. I cite the opinions of such men as 
Kirkpatrick and Cheyne,* because were I to hold such an 
opinion, nnsupported by the authority of high Christian 
scholarship, I might in this community be accused of 
"Jewish narrowmess" or "Hebraic prejudices," as the 
phrases go. Therefore I tell you that Professor Cheyne 
also holds that this chapter is a eulogy written by Isaiah 
in the memory, and to the honor, of his great contem- 
porary, Jeremiah, the man of sorrows of the Old Testa- 
ment, a man who was despised and rejected by his peo- 
ple; a man who was made acquainted with much grief; a 
man who was, by his brethren, dropped into a filthy pit 
and left there to starve ; a man who was forcibly carried 
away into Egypt by them, and who, tradition says, was 
murdered by one of his own people. 

A Type. 

It is now presumed by Jewish and non-Jewish schol- 
arship that of some such person Isaiah of Babylon was 
writing when he described the typical man of sorrows, 
and this description was true of Jeremiah, who was a 
prophet ; who, in his day, spoke the unpopular truth ; who 
told his people the thing they hated to hear; who came 
to the sons and daughters of Israel and pointed out lo 
them the necessary consequences of their wrong-doing; 
and who was, as a consequence, despised and rejected 



*"Thc Doctrines of the Prophets/' b}^ the Rev. Prof. A. F. 
Kirkpatrick. D. D., "Israel — ReHgious Thought and Life Among 
the Ancient Hebrews in Post-Exilic Days," by the Rev. Prof. 
T. K. Cheyne, M. A., D. D. 



and hated; who was a man of no cinnehness that people 
should wish to look upon him, wiio had no beauty of 
form that men might desire him ; but whom it had 
pleaded God to afflict, and by whose suffering and 
through whose revelation of truth, millions upon millions 
have been led unto righteousness, their eyes having been 
opened, their lives having- been cheered, th:eir souls hav- 
uig been uplifted. 

The New Theology. 

The old school of theology held that it was neces- 
sary for man to believe certain things in this world in 
order to be saved in the next. There is a new school of 
theology that believes that any theology that teaches 
without regard to sociology is'cibomed; for the great- 
service of the church is not to prepare men to die, but to 
help them to live; not to show mair the way to another 
world, but to show him the right way in this world ; not 
to "save" his soul for all eternity in some other existence, 
but to enable him to get the best out of this existence. 
This does not mean that we, who believe this new theo- 
logy, deny another existence beyond the grave. On the 
contrary, the sweet hope of immortality is stronger in the 
souls of men who teach this new theology than ev:er it 
could be, in my judgment, in the hearts and souls of 
those who feared hell and desired heaven, and who were 
virtuous in the hope of being rewarded in the one place 
and in the dread of being punished in the other place. 
This new school of theology is represented by men like 
Campbell in London, the Abbe Houtain in Paris, Pere 



Hyacinthe in Geneva, Crapsey in Rochester, and others, 
not to speak of the many teacherj in the Jewish pulpit, 
men of radical thought, and who have been the pioneers 
in this respect. 

We believe, then, that this world is the place in 
which to work out our salvation, and that religion must 
toil to make us better men and women, and must inspire 
us to become better citizens here on earth, rather than 
teach us some mythical scheme of salvation in a world 
entirely beyond our ken. When the world understands 
this, it will see that Isaiah, chapter fifty-three, refers not 
to one man alone, but portrays a typ:e. It may apply to 
Jeremiah, it may apply to Jesus, it may apply to Socrates. 
it may apply to Savonarola, it may apply to men, in many 
lands, in many ages. It may apply to the noble army of 
sainted martyrs, who went to their graves in defense of 
principle, to every great human leader who, in defense 
of his or her convictions, has died, believing that their 
service would make other men righteous, believing that 
in their death they might seal with their blood the cove- 
nant that right is right because God is God. 

True of Lincoln. 

I believe that while every word and verse may not 
absolutely apply to each of these characters in detail ; 
that while :every verse cannot truthfully be said to apply 
mor'e to Jesus of Nazareth than to other teachers and 
martyrs; that while there are some verses in this fifty- 
third chapter that, perhaps, cannot be said to portray ex- 
act- facts concerning some of these characters, yet, when 



we make allowances for Eastern trope and Oriental imag- 
ination and Palestinian metaphor, we have in the fifty- 
third chapter of Isaiah as true a picture of America's 
saint, Abraham Lincoln, as has ever been delineated by 
scholar, student or historian. 

If ever it was true of a man that he had no comeliness 
that men might desire him, it was true of Lincoln. If 
ever it was true of any man that he was a man of sor- 
rows, it was true of Lincoln. If ever it M'as true, of any 
man that he was acquainted with grief, it was true of 
Lincoln. If ever it was true of a nation that, like sheep, 
they had gone astray, had esteemed one stricken of God 
who was its chosen savior, it was true of the American 
people during the tim;e of the Civil War. And if any 
nation ever realized its mistake and penitently paid tri- 
bute to a man, in the words of Isaiah, that by his knowl- 
edge the righteous servant brought many unto righteous- 
ness, it was true of this self-same Abraham Lincoln. 

One hundred and two years ago today in a little 
cabin in the wilds of Kentucky, the child saw light for 
the first time ; today the nation sees light in his light. 
One hunded and two years ago, in poverty, amid sur- 
roundings that would try most men's souls, his parents 
gave him to the world ; today, the whole world receives 
liim. One hundred and two years ago, on the very con- 
fines of civilization, these parents brought into the world 
a child who was to be a rough backwoodsman ; today, 
this child has grown until he is an inspiration to the 
entire human race, a savior of his own land, and a glori- 
ous illustration of the opportunity that America offers to 
each of her children. 



America's Immortal. 

Lincoln is dead, but he speaks. He is gone, but he 
remains. His chair is vacant, but the nation is filled with 
his presence. His lips are dust, but they move with a 
mighty message to his people and to all people. His 
body is compounded with the elements, but his soul goes 
marching on. Abraham Lincoln can never be dead. He 
is America's great immortal. And today, after one 
hundred and two years from the time of his birth, today, 
forty-five years since the time of his death, Lincoln still 
grows. As Scripture says of another : "The man waxed 
great, and went forward, and grew until he became very 
great, (Gen. xxxvi, 13.) 

A few months ago in the company of a few of the 
women of this congregation, I went through the rotunda 
of the Capitol at Washington and stood for a few mo- 
ments in the presence of the latest bust of Lincoln that 
has been added to our national gallery of presidents and 
public servants. It is perhaps the most unique piece of 
statuary I have ever gazed upon in my life, — a carved 
head of stone upon a block of stone. The sculptor has 
made no attempt even 'to suggest the full form of the 
greatest of departed Americans; the head alone is placed 
upon a pedestal of stone and the head is almost as large 
as the pedestal. For some time we gazed upon this unique 
statue, and then I expressed this thought : "It se:ems to 
me that the sculptor desired to indicate to us by this 
piece of statuary that Lincoln has grown greater and 
greater since his death. For you see this head is thrice, 
perhaps four times, the size of its natural prototype. 



8 



Lincoln has grown in that proportion during the forty- 
five years ago since the assassin's bullet laid him low." 

"La Foi." 

You may rightly ask why it is that the American 
people, teachers, students, clergymen ; why, throughout 
the world, men of the same class, everywhere, are unani- 
mous in their appreciation of this rugg'ed backwoodsman, 
this lawyer, this g'aunt, homely man who, in the most 
strenuous period of American civilization, served this 
people? And the best answer I can give to you today 
is to tell you the bare outline of a play I saw in London 
about fifteen months ago, and which brought home to 
me, more clearly than anything I have :ever read con- 
cerning Lincoln, the great service he rendered to human- 
ity. The play is called "La Foi," and is written by M. 
Brieux, the celebrated French playright. It is in four 
acts, and the fourth act has two scenes. With the title 
of "False Gods" it was performed in London under the 
direction of Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree, who was kind 
enough to lend me the manuscript of the play from which 
I prepared this brief summary. 

The story deals with events which are supposed to 
have occurred in Egypt about 1300 B. C. E., at a time 
when the popular belief still prevailed that it was neces- 
sary, if the River Nile did not overflow at the time ap- 
pointed, to throw into the river a virgin, whose death 
would be regarded as an atonement and a source of such 
satisfaction to the gods that the river would rise and, by 
overflowing, spread fertility throughout Egypt. In the 



opening scene we are introduced into the courtyard of 
wealthy Rheou's beautiful house, where the gods of Up- 
per and Lower Egypt stand upon pedestals, and where a 
number of charming maidens are discussing the proba- 
bility of being selected as "Bride of the Nile," a privilege 
which each covets most fervently. 

The people bow in great reverence before the stone 
images, their respect being nourished by Mieris, Rheou's 
wife, who is blind, and who daily prays to Isis to restore 
her sight and daily honors the goddess with oflf«rings of 
sweet-smelling flowers. But the popular reverence is not 
sincere; it is a mere idle superstition, as is soon seen 
when two workmen come into the courtyard to repair the 
broken horns of a statue of Apis. At first the men are 
stricken with fear as they contemplate the horrible visage 
of their deity. How dare a layman touch the sacred 
form of a god? But once they place their hands upon 
the holy object and no harm results, they lift it contempt- 
uously from its pedestal and even kick it as a mark of 
their disdain, now that the popular idol is down. The 
damage repaired, the workmen withdraw, and the maid- 
ens gather in the courtyard soon to learn tndt Vaouma, 
the beautiful bride-to-be of Satni, (a former applicant 
for the priesthood, but who has lost faith in the gods 
while traveling), has been selected as the sacrifice to the 
Nile. 

As the solemn procession, which is to conduct Yaou- 
ma to the river, is about to form, Satni enters. In order 
to reach his bride more speedily he has actually dared to 
leap over two dead scarabs, an act of dreadful impiety. 
When he learns of Yaouma's willing fate, he determines 



10 



to save her. He declares that the gods of Egypt are 
false gods, that they made not man, but that man madfe 
them. The maiden's faith is unshaken. She refuses to 
accept Satni's arguments as he pleads with her to re- 
nounce the false gods, who represent idle superstitions, 
and to flee with him in pursuit of life and love. Yaouma 
refuses ; in the hearing of all the people she announces 
her irrevocable decision to die in the Nile and save her 
country, rather than find happiness in the arms of the 
man who adores her. 

Two months later, in the second act, we learn that 
an unusual storm has broken down the embankment 
whence Yaouma was to have been thrown into the Nile. 
For the time being she is saved ; but the people believe 
that Satni must have some unknown influence with the 
gods, who have sent the storm in answer to his prayers 
in behalf of his beloved Yaouma. In their ignorace they 
believe that he must be a miracle-worker. The blind, the 
lame, the sick, come to him to cure them, pleading that 
he lay his hands upon them, or that he permit them to 
touch the hem of his garment, that they may be restored 
to health. 

Among those who would beseech his help is Mieris, 
the blind wife of the wealthy Rheou. Daily has she ap- 
peared before Isis and offered her ineffective prayers. 
Daily has she cried: "Mother Isis, give me sight!" Daily 
has she, for years, returned to the room to sigh, to sob, 
to weep. But now Satni will heal her. Is he not more 
powerful than the gods? Of course, in that state of the 
public mind, Satni is able to cure some forms of hysteri- 
cal sickness. But he soon realizes that to continue doing: 



11 



so would be replacing- an old superstition by a new one. 
He decides to bring the issue to a close by publicly de- 
nouncing the false gods of Egypt. He indulges in a 
tirade against the gods^ telling the people that the deities 
of Egypt have enslaved them, and inciting the people to 
break their idols and crush them nnder foot. The crowd, 
excited by his words, falls furiously upon the wooden, 
stone and bronze gods, and leaps with joy as it performs 
its sacrilegious task. The gods lie on the ground, broken 
in a thousand pieces, as the second act closes. 

The author now indicates the consequences of the 
people's loss of faitli in the popular idols. Theft, bur- 
glary, murder, mark tlie progress of the people, who feel 
relieved of their obligations to gods and men. vSatni has 
released a Frankenstein, which he cannot control. Even 
those who have regarded him as a god demand that he 
restore tbem their lost faith and oflfer them some tangible 
deity in place of the g'"ds he has urged them to destroy. 
Little by little Satni's friends forsake him. Yaouma is 
completely alienated from him. and, to crown his mis- 
fortunes, his father, Pakh. is mortally wounded in a riot 
and dies cursing the son who had robbed him of his 
faith without offering a substitute. 

The fourth act opens in the Temple, where the 
Pharaoh and the High Priest meet to discuss the best 
methods of overcoming tlie influence of Satni and of 
ending the disorder caused by his teachings. The ration- 
alist is arrested and brought before the priest in the rnag- 
nificent Temple. After some argument, in which it is 
clearly shown that Satni believes in God, but not in the 
god.s, while the High Priest believes that the people de- 



12 



nianded "gods who go before them," Satni utterly rejects 
the false gods, denounces their worship and those who 
conduct it, charges the priests with forging fetters 
about the minds of the people and with retarding human 
progress by indulging their superstitions. The High 
Priest, however, is resolved to prove to the youth the 
error of his ways, and decides to appeal to his sense of 
fear to bring him tohis knees and to have him acknowl- 
edge the gods. 

Of a sudden every light in the Temple is exting- 
uished. A "darkness that may be felt" spreads terror in 
the heart of the struggler against the gods. Left to him- 
self, Satni, crouching on the ground, begins to contend 
against the superstitions of his childhood, against the 
longing sense of reverence awakened in the holy pre- 
cincts of the Temple. It was wonderful to observe the 
psychological study, I may say in passing, as the youth 
conquered his fears, and step by step, overcame his pre- 
judices, until he rose emancipated, saying, "Fear is ani- 
mal, beasts are afraid, men do not fear !" 

When the priest observes that Satni cannot be con- 
quered thus, he determines to appeal to his sympathy. 
That day, he tells him, is the Feast of Isis. "Today, the 
sick, the lam:e, the halt, the blind, the unhappy, all come 
to the Temple to witness the miracle of the goddess Isis. 
If she shakes her head cures will be efifected by the thou- 
sands ; if she fails to do so, another y>ear of misery will 
follow for the unfortunates. Of course, the stone deity 
could not move her head ; this is effected by means of a 
lever attached to the altar; but the people care not how 
it is done, if only it is done. "Now," said the High Priest 



13 



to Satni, "I have selected you to turn that lever, to prove 
to you the folly of destroying the popular gods, and es- 
pecially have I selected you since you are so sure that 
the miracle cannot happen." Satni refuses indignantly, 
but before he can flee from the Temple the crowd of wor- 
shippers enter the sacred enclosure and he is compelled 
to witness the appeal of this dreadful group of lame, 
blind, paralyzed, crippled human beings, and to hear 
them offer their prayers in which they are led by the 
High Priest. Piteously, desperately, they cry, "Isis, 
Mother Isis, heal us!" 

Satni stands by the altar close to the lever, which, if 
gently pressed, will cause the goddess to incline her head 
in approval of the prayers and in acceptance of the offer- 
ings. He sees the infatuated believers enter. He hears 
their cries for help. He observes the many ills from 
which they suffer. But h:e remains determined; to yield 
is but further to forge the fetters of superstition about 
the minds of the people. Then sufferers from the plague 
enter the Temple and bow before the goddess. The 
lepers come and prostrate themselves before the idol. 
Still he remains firm. A woman smitten with madness 
approaches the shrine, and Satni is perceptibly moved 
as he hears her pray to have her reason restored. 

Then comes a mother with her only child. She 
bends before the statue of Isis and cries, "Mother of god, 
heal my child ! Every other child hast thou taken from 
me ! This child alone hast thou left me, and now a 
demon has entered it and threatens to rob me of it. Oh, 
Mother Isis, grant me my petition ! Give me my request, 
thou Mother, who hast suffered! Heal mv little babe!" 



14 



Satni groans. Sobs break from him. He can no more 
restrain himself. Finally he presses the lever. The mir- 
acle of Isis happens, — the goddess graciously inclines her 
head. The paralytics regain the us:e of atrophying limbs. 
The blind see. The lame throw away their crutches. 
The people are delirious with joy, the High Priest is 
triumphant and the gods once more hold sway. 

Satni, of course, becomes an object of derision. The 
High Priest sees to it that he is buffeted, insulted, at- 
tacked, on all sides. Calling the people to him, one day, 
in the Temple, Satni tells them the truth about the 
miracle of Isis. He realizes that he had done wrong in 
yielding to the impulse of sympathy, that he had pre- 
vented the march of human progress by a generation. 
He now endeavors, when too late, to convince the people 
that the miracle was a simple trick. "It was not Isis who 
healed you. She never moved her head. I did it. I 
touched the spring that shook the head of stone!" They 
believe him not, and while he sees that he can evoke no 
response from them, he also sees that the solemn proces- 
sion in which is Yaouma, his beloved, who is about to 
be sacrificed to the Nile. The people leave him as he 
stands on the altar addressing them, to follow the pro- 
cession, crying, ''Yaouma, Yaouma ! Glory to her who 
dies to save Egypt! Praised be thou, O Amon-Ra!" 

Left alone in the Temple, Bitiou, a cripple to whom 
Satni has done naught but good, creeps up to him on tip- 
toe, and stabs him to the heart. As he lies alone, bleed- 
ing to death, Mieris, the blind, comes to him and says: 
"O, Satni, thy words have comforted me ; but I hear that 
Yaouma, filled with the joy of self-sacrifice, has left thee. 



IS 



Everyone must sacrifice himself, as you say. But if 
-there are no gods, for whom shall we sacrifice our- 
selves?" W'hh his dying- breath Satni announces the 
truth, to illustrate which I have told this story. "We 
must sacrifice ourselves for those who suffer." 

He Died For the Suffering. 

This is but the story of a play, a mere figment of 
the imagination, yet it is a portrayal of the dominant 
notes of the life of Abraham Lincoln, given by a man 
who neither saw nor knew him. Abraham Lincoln waged 
"war against false gods. He even dared to tell the people 
that the gods they worshipped were false. The people 
said to him, as it were, 'Tf our gods are false, then to 
whom shall we consecrate, or sacrifice, ourselves?" Lin- 
coln replied, and his answer became his wisdom in his 
day, "For those who suffer." That answer is part of his 
message to our age. We must again sacrifice ourselves 
•for those who suffer. Only by means of suffering 
Messiahs do'cs the world march forward. We sorely need 
those Arnold von AVinkelrieds who seize the spears of 
the enemy and, drawing them into their own breasts, 
break the enemy's ranks and make way for liberty ; for 
liberty only flourishes and grows along the path blazed 
by martyrdom. Abraham Lincoln's spirit speaks to us 
today, "The country I served, the country I saved, is 
today suffering; and you, the people, in whose behalf I 
died, must rise today in your might and majesty and 
save the country in behalf of which I went to my death." 
This is his niessage, this is his word to us today. 



16 



He Sailed Alone. 

That in his age he was not appreciated, that in his 
day he had to suffer, did not make him fret. He was 
consecrated to a duty. God and he made a majority, 
he felt. He knew that -he was right. He cared not for 
approval, and was not moved by criticism. H:e knew that 
souls of human stars are accustomed to dwell apart, yet 
they shine in their appointed sphere. He knew that the 
leaders of men dwell on the heights where few can im- 
mediately follow. A truth realized and lived by Lincoln, 
sang the poet when he said : 

" 'Twas ever so, that he who dared 
To sail upon a sea unknown 
Must go upon a voyage unshared 
And brave its perils alone. 

He who from Palos, toward the West 
Sought for a new world o'er the s:ea, 

Sailed forth distrusted and unblest, 

While e'en his ship hatched mutiny. 

And h'c who, not content to sit 

And dream of far-off" shores of truth, 

Watching the sea-bird fancies flit 

And wavelets creep through all his youth. 

Must sail unblest of those behind. 

And bear e'en love's reproaching tone ; 

Only the guiding God is kind 

To him who dares to sail alone." 



17 



Fearless Minority. 

Was it not so with Lincoln? H;e sailed alone. He 
saw the rocks when others saw them not. He saw the 
reefs that other eyes could not behold. He saw the shal- 
lows whose existence others could not believe. There- 
fore, alone, he captained the ship of state, and guided 
it amidst rocks and reefs and shallows, until peace 
crowned his efforts, until he set his nam:e high above all 
other names in the history of our land. Therefore, Lin- 
coln tells us today, "Be not afraid if you are a minority; 
remember that I was in the minority ! If you are strug- 
gling, remember that I struggled ! If you are suffering 
public contempt; remember that I was despised and re- 
jected! If men hate you and evilly despite you and 
cover your name with obloquy, if men vent their wrath 
upon you and call you evil names, rerriember that I, too, 
suffered this fate in my day ! If men shun you, if men 
ostracize you, if men cover you with contempt, remember 
that my estate was the same !" 

Name Above All Americans Names. 

Glory be to God that, in His loving wisdom, He gave 
unto us such a man. By his knowledge hath this right- 
eous servant brought many unto righteousness. Inno- 
cent childhood, learning to lisp its numbers, loves this 
name above all other American names. Ardent youth, 
contemplating the unbounded opportunities of a free 
land in which there is no North, or South, or East, or 
West, delights to remember that Lincoln lived. Progres- 



18 



sive manhood, turning- the pages of history, pauses to 
consider the wonderful record associated with the name 
that is an inspiration, not only to America, but to all 
humanity. Wise and conservative age, in naming that 
one man who is, of all men, "the" American, repeats of 
Abraham Lincoln what Lowell sang in his "Commemora- 
tion Od:e:" 

"He knew to bide his time, 
x^nd can his fame abide. 
Still patient in his simple faith sublime, 
Till the wise years decide. 
Great captains, with their guns and drums, 
Disturb otir judgment for the hour. 
But at last silence comes; 

These are all gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his fame, 
The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame. 
New birth of our new soil, the first American." 

Lincoln's Religion. 

This first American, from the height of his immortal 
fame, tells us today that we should have for our religion 
the religion that was his ; the religion that was the faith 
of every prophet of humanity; the relig'ion that sprang 
from direct intercourse with the true God, and that 
shunned every false god ; the religion that is summed up 
in the two great laws of love inscribed by Moses, md 
repeated by Jesus, and endorsed by the conscience of 



19 



humanity; the religion of faith in one God and one hu- 
manity, not restricted by creed or color or condition or 
country, but inspired by the love of God on the one hand, 
and the love of man on the other. This does not mean 
that a time will soon come in the history of the human 
race V\hen all men will meet at the same hour, read from 
the e^ame book, offer the same prayers, and hear the same 
speech in the same tongue. But it does mean that, mak- 
ing- due allowance for our preferences, every man shall 
have the God-given right to love his God and serve his 
ffcilowman, according to the dictates of his conscience, 
and ^vithcut being required to sacrifice his human rights 
in Jefeuse of his religious principles. 

Abraham Lincoln also urges us to continue to have 
faith in aemocracy. By ^democracy, I do not mean a 
pari}, but a principle. The soul of "the plain people" 
may be trusted. The common people, the plain people of 
America, were Lincoln's people. I believe that, if Lin- 
coln hated anything, he hated aristocracy. He had no 
antipathy to the true aristocrat, because I believe that 
:every real democrat knows that there is a true aristo- 
cracy, the aristocracy of intellect, the aristocracy of good- 
ness, the aristocracy of character. But this spurious 
type of aristocracy that is growing up in America, whose 
coat of arms is a money bag, whose aspirations are 
limited to the views expressed by ^^'all Street, — to the 
aristocracy that worships, adores and buys titles, — that 
type Lincoln hated, and in his name every American is 
invited to hate it today because it is opposed to the prin- 
ciples of American democracy. 



20 f 



Faith in Democracy. 

Lincoln believed that the people were capable of gov- 
erning" themselves, and every man who has faith in him 
believes that he was right. He realized that this nation 
was called into existence to give a new trend to human- 
ity. The old world had been bathed with human blood, 
shed by tyranny, despotism and prejudice. The old 
world was ruled by an aristocracy based upon the mere 
accident of birth. The old world was dominated by a 
union of church and state, and the offenses committed by 
the united church and state form one of the foulest blots 
on the pages of history. Here, upon the virgin soil, a new 
chance was tO' be given to man, not only to enjoy civil, 
political and religious liberty, but also to develop the 
highest form of liberty, possible only where democracy 
triumphs, — economic equality and liberty. America en- 
joys it not y;et, but we see it coming. The hand-writing, 
condemning the old systems, may be seen upon the walls. 
Justice is beginning to triumph ; the eyes of men are be- 
ginning to be opened. Man now understands that op- 
pression has been laid upon them, that taskmasters have 
been whipping them, that shackles have been put upon 
them by false ideals and false beliefs; and now, in the 
name of their rights, Lincoln's plain people are demand- 
ing justice and, by the Eternal, they will some day get it. 

Lincoln's Message. 

From the celestial heights he sends us the message 
to serve and to save his people. The American people 



21 



may be divided into three parts ; ten per cent froth, who 
reach the top ; ten per cent filth, who are at the bottom ; 
eig-hty per cent clean, sweet, fresh water, in between the 
frotli at the top and the filth below. I do not presume to 
give these figures with anything like exactness, but in 
a general sens:e only. That eighty per cent of the Ameri- 
can people, clean, sweet, wholesome, honest, hard-work- 
ing, are the hope of humanity. They are the people af- 
ter Lincoln's heart, and this message is addressed to 
them in his name. They fear not that their efforts have 
been checked. They are not dismayed that craft and 
cunning have temporarily won the day. They know that 
the right must win and that the plain people can be 
trusted to assert themselves in defense of that which 
Lincoln died to save. Alay the time not be long distant 
when democracy wil-l triumph. "With malice toward 
none, with charity for all," heeding the lessons which 
Lincoln's life teaches, may we go forward "with firmness 
in the right, as God gives us to see the right, neither 
fainting, nor failing, nor falling! 



il 



SUNDAY LECTURES 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION RODEPH SHALOM 



SERIES IV. 



1. The Blue Laws. 

2. The City and the Teacher. 

3. Believe Not All You Hear. 

4. A Jewish View of Life. 

5. A Jewish View of Death. 

6. The Cry of the Children. 

7. While There's Life There's 

Hope. 

8. Marriage and Divorce. 

9. Birthdays. 

10. The Peace of Justice. 
IL The Jewish Home. 

12. To Have and To Hold. 

13. The Success of Negro Edu- 

cation — Booker T. Wash- 
ington. 



14. The Fatherhood of God. 

15. The Brotherhood of Man. 

16. Unity, Not Uniformity. 

17. Plain Living and High Think- 

ing. 

18. I. — Prophets and Prophecy. 

19. II.— Thomas Carlyle. 

20. III. — Ralph Waldo Emerson 

21. IV. — Alfred Tennyson. 

22. V. — Theodore Parker. 

23. VI.— Isaac M. Wise. 

24. VII.— John Ruskin. 

25. VIII.— Lyof N. Tolstoy. 

26. IX. — Abraham Lincoln. 
21 . Jesus and his Brethren. 

28. The Gospel of Common Sense 



SERIES V. 



1. Forward! 

2. What We May Learn From 

Japan. 

3. My Religion. 

4. The Jew in America. 

5. Why Does God Permit Suf- 

fering? 

6. The Good Father. 

7. The Loving Mother. 

8. In the Twilight. 

9. When the Shadows Flee 

Away. 

10. A Jewish View of Prayer. 

11. A Jewish View of Creed. 



12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 

18. 
19. 

20. 
21. 
22. 



The Pace that Kills. 

The Light that Failed. 

Religion for f.hc Rich. 

If Sinners Eiiitice Thee. 

Counting (he Cost. 

False Friend,, and Friendly 
Foes. 

A Criticism cf the Clergy. 

A Criticism of the Congre- 
gation. 

The Sympathy of Religions. 

The Jew and the Christian. 

The Man with the Muck-Rake 



SERIES VL 



1. Hearts and Creeds. 

2. Blessed are the Discontented. 

3. Man and Superman. 

4. Give the Child a Chance. 

5. The Making of an American. 

6. If Men were Honest. 

7. A Jewish View of Salvation. 

8. A Jewish View of God. 

9. Hallowed be Thy Name! 

10. I.— The Greatest Thing in the 
World. 



11. II.— The Greatest Thing in rht 

World. 

12. The Poet of the Heart. 

13. An Epistle to the Gentiles. 

14. The New Theology. 

15. Rejected of Men. 

16. The Might of Right. 

17. The Life that Counts. 

18. Those Who Are For Us. 

19. Those Who Are Against Us 

20. The Faith of AH Good Men. 



SUNDAY LECTURES 

BEFOKK 

Congregation Rodeph Shalom 



SERIES I. 



1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9 

10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 



1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 

10. 
U. 
12. 
13. 



For What Do We Stand? 
The Consequences of Belief. 
The Modern Millionaire. 
The Wandering Jew. 
A Father's Power. 
A Mother's Influence. 
The Child's Realm. 
The Chosen of the Earth. 
Atheism and Anarchism. 
A Jewish View of Jesus. 
The Doom of Dogma. 
The Dawn of Truth. 
Friendships. 
Zionism . 



15. Gone, but Not Forgotten. 

16. Pleasures and Pastimes. 

17. Marriage. 

18. Intermarriage. 

19. What is the Good of Relig- 

ion? 

20. Love and Duty. 

21. The Miracle of the Ages. 

22. A Jewish View of Easter. 

23. The Spirit of Modern Juda- 

ism. 

24. The Ideal Home. 

25. The Prophets of Israel. 

26. Marching On. 



SERIES II. 



Emile Zola; — A Tribute. 

The Highest Gifts. 

Art and the Synagogue. 

Prejudice. 

Youth and Its Visions. 

Age and Its Realities. 

Is Life Worth Living? 

Is Marriage a Failure? 

The True and Only Son 

God. 
The Conquering Hero. 
The Truth in Judaism. 
The One Only God. 
The Holy Bible 



of 



14. The Vast Forever. 

15. Our Neighbor's i-^aith. 

16. The Messiah. 

17. The Future of Religion. 

18. The Liberators. 

19. Man and Nature. 

20. What Woman May Do. 

21. The School of Life. 

22. Sowing the Wind — Reaping 

the Whirlwind. 

23. The World's Debt to Israel. 

24. The Man W^ithout a Religion. 

25. The Prize and the Price. 

26. Samson. 



SERIES IIL 



1. What Do We Gain by Re- 12. 

form? 13. 

2. "Making Haste to be Rich." 14. 

3. Mobs. 15. 

4. "What All the World's a seek- 16. 

ing." 17. 

5. I. May we Critize the Bible? 18. 

6. II. Results of Bible Criticism. 

7. Religion and the Theater. 19. 

8. The Continuous Warfare. 20. 

9. Reform Judaism and Primi- 21. 

tive Christianity. ' 22. 

10. A Child's Blessing. 23. 

11. Herbert Spencer;— A Tribute. 24. 



Is God Divided' 

Cruel, to be Kind. 

Hypocrisy. 

War or Peace? 

The Strenuous Life. 

The Parent and the Child. 

The Politician or the Peoplc- 

Which? 
The Use of Life. 
The Jew. 
Social Purity. 

The Noblest Work of God. 
Crimes of the Tongue. 
Self-Respect. 



"National," 711 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh. 



